Submissions

Increase the breadth and depth of this website by contributing your field data, photographs, and butterfly life history observations!

The information included in the Alabama Butterfly Atlas represents a collaboration of scientists and citizen scientists. All legitimate submissions are encouraged and welcomed. The guidelines below are included for your convenience. Send all submissions to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com. Thank you for supporting butterfly conservation and education in our state!

List the Butterflies You Saw

After your next outdoor adventure in Alabama, send us a list of butterflies you saw. Whether you are a beginning butterflier, a seasoned expert, or anything in between, your field data is important! Include the following:

DATE AND LOCALITY: Make sure that you include the month, day, year, locality and county in Alabama where the butterflies were sighted. For example: September 23, 2016, Oak Mountain State Park, Shelby County, AL. (If the species is a rare one, it would be useful to include latitude/longitude, or some other descriptive information).

SPECIES LIST AND NUMBERS: List each butterfly species that you saw and tally the number of idividuals of each species that you encountered. For example: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3; Cloudless Sulphur 5; Common Buckeye 2; Pearl Crescent 10.

If you can't identify everthing, send a list of those that you know. You may also send a photograph of a butterfly you cannot ID so that it can be identified by experts. Rare species will require photographic documentation. State and county records also require photographic verification.

Consider noting time of day, weather conditions, and a description of the habitat. Life history information is also important. This may include egg-laying observations, caterpillar finds, or interesting behaviors.

Public Land Lists

Help expand knowledge of the butterflies that inhabit Alabama's publicly accessible natural areas. These public lands total several hundred thousand acres and are scattered widely across the state. They include parks, trails, wildlife management areas, and public gardens. Each is home to a wide variety of butterfly species, some of which are known from that particular site and nowhere else. Consider visiting your favorite public site on a regular basis so that butterflies are monitored in every season.

More than 100 public lands are currently included in the ABA database. Additional records are needed from each to give a more accurate picture of its butterfly populations. When you visit, submit your sightings! Be sure to include the date and location of your field trip. (See "Field Trip Lists" above.)

Add a public land that is not currently on the list. Send your field data along with the new site's name, address, latitude and longitude, and a website address if possible.

Submit Atlas News and Announcements

Let us help spread the word! Send us concise information about butterfly happenings in your area. We are interested in posting announcements about:

Butterfly-related classes and programs;

Native plant sales;

School projects that highlight butterflies;

Current butterfly “hot scenes.” (For instance, the Green Trail at Oak Mountain State Park is a great spot to see spring-flying butterflies that include Mourning Cloaks, Goatweed Leafwings, and Zebra Swallowtails.);

Timely articles and new publications;

Conservation efforts;

other butterfly events and news items!

Send your announcements to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com. Submission of an announcement does not insure that it will be posted on the ABA website.

New Host Plant Records

One of the goals of the Alabama Butterfly Atlas is to document the caterpillar host plants used in Alabama by each of its butterfly species. The host plants included in "Host and Nectar Plants" have been verified in Alabama. Help build the list by submitting your own observations of additional host plants to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com.

We are interested in records of:

Plants used by ovipositing (egg-laying) butterflies;

Plants on which butterfly eggs are located;

Plants on which butterfly caterpillars are eating.

Please include the date, locality, and county for each submission. Photographic documentation may be required for some species.

If you are not sure of the plant ID, photograph as much of the plant as possible. Close-ups of leaves and/or flowering structures are helpful. Consider tagging the plant so that you can easily find it again.

Submit Photos

You are welcome to submit photos to the ABA website. Photos are reviewed and chosen for website inclusion by a selection committee. Submission of a photo does not mean it will be included in the ABA. Once included, please be aware that your photo may not stay published in the website.

First priority will be given to photographs taken in Alabama. They should be high quality, aesthetically pleasing, in sharp focus, have good lighting, and not too small or too large in the frame.

We hope to include photos in each species account that illustrate:

ID: both sexes (dorsal and ventral) including seasonal and other variations;

LIFE STAGES: all life stages including color forms and eating patterns, placement on plants, etc.;

NATURAL HABITAT for each life stage, preferably without presence of man.

First priority will be given to photographs of Alabama butterflies and their various life stages depicted with native Alabama plants. We believe this is important because the ABA can help to educate people about the important connection between our state’s native butterflies and its native plants—to enable them to actually see it in the pictures we use. If you are not sure whether the plant in your photo is native, give us as much information as you can, and we will try to make that determination.

Photos should be named as follows:

“Common-name_County_DDMMMYYYY_Name.jpg.” For example, if Jane Doe has a photo of a Cloudless Sulphur taken on September 12, 2014 in Butler County, AL, the file would be named “Cloudless-Sulphur_Butler_12SEP2014_JaneDoe.jpg”.

Files format should be saved as follows:

Type -- JPG preferred;

Size – Minimum of 500KB – larger is better.

Please remove watermarks, your name or copyright symbol. Your name and copyright will be displayed when photo is clicked and enlarged on website.

Submit photos by email to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com. Sharing your photos indicates your permission for us to publish them on the ABA website. Chosen photos may be displayed on the main page, species accounts or other areas of the ABA. Photographers retain the copyright of their images.

Alabama Butterfly Atlas

The Alabama Butterfly Atlas (ABA) collects, interprets, and shares information about Alabama's butterfly populations for the purpose of education and conservation.